Equipment

Pasteurisation of packaged foods

• Some liquid foods (e.g. beers & fruit juices) are

pasteurised after filling into containers.

• Hot water
 glass container
 max. temperature differences between container &
water, 20ºC (heating) & 10ºC (cooling)  to reduce
the risk of thermal shock to the container

• Steam–air mixtures or hot water

 metal or plastic containers.
• Containers are cooled to appr. 40ºC to evaporate
surface water
 minimise external corrosion to container or cap
 accelerate setting of label adhesives.

• Hot-water pasteurisers  batch or continuous.

Batch
 a water bath,

 crates of packaged food are heated to a pre-set

temperature & held for the required length of time.

 cold water is pumped in to cool product.

Continuous
 a long narrow trough and a conveyor belt
• containers through heating &
cooling stages.

 a tunnel divided into heating zones.

• very fine (atomised) water sprays heat
containers through each zone on a conveyor,
• incremental rises in temperature
until pasteurisation is achieved.
• water sprays cool containers.
• Savings in energy & water consumption
 water recirculation between preheat sprays,
 water used to heat the packaged food in
pasteurisation is
 (before pasteurisation) pre-heated by the
hot products.
 (after pasteurisation) then cooled by
the incoming food between cooling zones

Steam tunnels
 faster, shorter, & smaller.
• Temperatures in heating zones are gradually
increased
 by reducing amount of air in steam–air
mixtures.
• Cooling takes place using fine sprays of water or
by immersion in a water bath.
Pasteurisation of unpackaged liquids
Open boiling pans
 small-scale batch of some liquid foods.

Plate HEs
 large scale of low viscosity liquids (e.g. milk, milk
products, fruit juices, liquid egg, beers & wines).

• Some products (e.g. fruit juices, wines) also require de-

aeration to prevent oxidative changes during storage.
 sprayed into a vacuum chamber
 dissolved air is removed by a vacuum pump, prior to
pasteurisation.
• Each plate is fitted with a synthetic rubber gasket
• The plates are corrugated to induce turbulence in the
liquids
 turbulence + high velocity induced by pumping
reduces thickness of boundary films  high heat transfer
coefficients.
Pasteurisation of unpackaged https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2013.09.022.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026087741300492
liquids 5)

In operation, food is pumped from a

balance tank to a ‘regeneration’
section where it is preheated by food
that has already been pasteurised.
It is then heated to pasteurising
temperature in a heating section and
passes through a holding tube,
where it is retained for the time
required to achieve pasteurisation.
If the pasteurising temperature is not
reached, a temperature sensor
activates a flow diversion valve that
automatically returns the food to the
The regeneration of heat in this way leads to
balance tank to be re-pasteurised. substantial savings in energy and up to 97% of the
The pasteurised product is then heat can be recovered. Heat recovery is calculated
cooled in the regeneration section using:
Heat recovery (%) = [(θ2– θ1)/ (θ3– θ1)]X100
(and simultaneously preheats where θ1(°C)=inlet temperature, θ2(°C)=preheating
incoming food) and then further temperature and θ3(°C)=pasteurisation temperature.
• Advantages of HEs over in-bottle processing:
– more uniform heat treatment
– simpler equipment & lower maintenance costs
– lower space & labour costs
– greater flexibility for different products
– greater control over pasteurisation conditions.
• spoilage & risks from pathogens
 from post-pasteurisation contamination,
 cleaning & hygiene

After pasteurisation, food is immediately

filled into cartons or bottles and sealed to
prevent recontamination

• Products should be stored at refrigerated

temperature until consumption.
 Effect on foods
• minor changes to nutritional & sensory
characteristics of most foods.
• shelf life: few days or weeks

Effect: Colour, flavour and aroma

• Fruit juices
 colour deterioration
 enzymic browning by PPO.
 promoted by the presence of oxygen
 fruit juices are de-aerated prior to pasteurisation.
• Whiteness of raw milk & pasteurised milk differs
 due to homogenisation
 pasteurisation alone  no measurable effect.
• Other pigments in plant & animal products are
mostly unaffected.
• Small loss of volatile aroma compounds during
pasteurisation of juices.
• Volatile recovery may be used to produce high
quality juices.
• Loss of volatiles from raw milk removes a hay-
like aroma & produces a blander product.
Effect: Vitamin loss

• In fruit juices, losses of vitamin C & carotene are

minimised by de-aeration.

• Changes to milk are confined to a 5% loss of

serum (whey) proteins & small changes to
vitamin content.
 Heat sterilisation
• unit operation; foods are heated sufficiently at high
temperature & for long time to destroy microbial &
enzyme activity.
• a shelf life > 6 mo at ambient temperatures.

• Severe heat treatment during the older process of in-

container sterilisation (canning) may produce substantial
changes in nutritional and sensory qualities of foods.
• Developments  to reduce damage to nutrients &
sensory components.

• Part 1: in-container heat sterilisation

• Part 2: UHT processes.
 1. In-container sterilisation

heat resistance of
micro-organisms or enzymes

physical state
heating conditions
of food
How long to
sterilise a food?

container
pH of the food
size

• process time
 heat resistance of micro-organisms (spores) or enzymes
 rate of heat penetration into the food.
Heat resistance of micro-organisms

• Most heat resistant spores have a z value of

around 10ºC.

Low-acid foods (pH>4.5)

• Destruction of C. botulinum is a minimum
requirement of heat sterilisation.

• Normally, foods receive more than minimum

treatment as other more heat-resistant spoilage
bacteria may also be present.
More acidic foods (pH 4.5–3.7)

• other micro-organisms (e.g. yeasts and fungi) or

heat-resistant enzymes are used to establish
processing times and temperatures.

Acidic foods (pH < 3.7)

• enzyme inactivation (pasteurisation).

• Thermal destruction of micro-organisms
 logarithmically
 a sterile product cannot be produced with
certainty no matter how long the process time.

• The probability of survival of a single micro-

organism can be predicted
 using details of heat resistance of micro-
organism &
 temperature & time of heating.
 a concept kown as commercial sterility.
• E.g. a process that reduces cell numbers by 12 decimal
reductions (a 12D process), applied to a raw material
contains 1000 spores per container would reduce
microbial numbers to 10-9 per container, or the
probability of one microbial spore surviving in one billion
containers processed.

• Commercial sterility  inactivates substantially all micro-

organisms & spores which, if present, would be capable
of growing in food under defined storage conditions.

• The level of survival is determined by type of micro-

organism that is expected to contaminate raw material.

• A 12D process  C. botulinum is likely to be present in

low acid foods
• In practice a 2D to 8D process  most
economical level of food spoilage consistent with
adequate food quality & safety.
 microbial load on raw materials must be kept
at a low level.

• When C. botulinum grows & produces toxin in a

sealed container there is characteristic
production of gas which can cause visible
swelling of the container
(not the only cause of swelling).
Rate of heat penetration
• Heat is transferred from steam or pressurised water
through the container & into food.
• Generally the surface heat transfer coefficient is very high
and is not a limiting factor in heat transfer.

Type of product

Container type Container size

rate of heat penetration

into a food
Agitation of
Container shape
the container
Temperature
of the retort
• In cylindrical containers, the thermal centre is
at the geometric centre for conductive heating
foods
appr 1/3 up from the base of container for
convective heating foods.
• In convective heating, the exact position varies &
should be found experimentally.
• Convective heating is more rapid than
conductive heating & the rate depends mostly on
viscosity of food.
• In commercial processing, containers of viscous
food may be agitated to increase the rate of
convective heating.
• A broken heating
curve occurs when
a food is initially
heated by
convective heating
but then undergoes
a rapid transition to
conductive heating
(e.g. in foods which
contain a high
concentration of
starch which
undergoes a sol-to-
gel transition).
• The thermal death time (TDT) or F value
 basis for comparing heat sterilisation procedures.
 time required to achieve a specified reduction in
microbial numbers at a given temperature
 the total time–temperature combination received by a
food.

• a process operating at 115ºC based on a micro-

organism with a z value of 10ºC  F10 115

• F value  time to reduce microbial numbers by a

multiple of the D value.

• n1; n2 = initial; final number of micro-organisms.

• A reference F value (F0)  to describe processes that
operate at 121ºC which are based on a micro-organism
with a z value of 10ºC.
• Basis: different combinations of temperature & time have
the same lethal effect on micro-organisms.
• Temperature increases  logarithmic reduction in time
needed to destroy the same number of micro-organisms.
• The lethal rate (the reciprocal of TDT)

• θ (ºC) = temperature of heating.

• The TDT at a given processing temperature is compared
to a reference temperature (T) of 121ºC.
• E.g. if a product is processed at 115ºC and the most
heat-resistant micro-organism has a z value of 10ºC,
Lethal rate = 10(115-121)/10 = 0.25